Beyond Baitfish
by Marjorie K. Place
Summary: Tag: How Much Pain Can You Take. While Chris is away at Savannah's funeral, Brody takes the first step in strengthening their partnership.


**Tag to 1x22: How Much Pain Can You Take**

Meredith Brody looked around at the destruction that used to be Chris LaSalle's home. Bullet holes riddled the walls both inside and out. Shattered glass tinged with blood was everywhere. Over the course of the last week, her partner had lost everything to Baitfish's need to get back and Pride and Sasha Broussard. As if killing the love of his life hadn't been enough, his truck and home had been shot to hell. Savannah's blood still stained the carpet in the bedroom where Baitfish had put her on display in front of the window for Chris to find.

"Do you think he'll even want to come back here?" Agent Sonja Percy asked as she stepped up next to the taller agent.

"I don't know," Brody answered distantly. She had to wonder how Chris would ever sleep at night with the memory that his childhood sweetheart and two police officers had been killed just a few feet from where she was standing. Brody thought it was ironic how Chris had just finished repainting from where Cade had tried to recreate a Jackson Pollack in the main room.

Maybe Loretta was right. Chris had drawn every bad card in the deck.

"Let's start by getting rid of that carpet." The last thing Brody wanted was for Chris to come home from Savannah's funeral only to find her blood covering the floor of his bedroom. Together the two agents rolled up the large area rug and carried it to the dumpster. Afterwards, they started to clean up all of the broken glass. Tiny microscopic pieces were everywhere. There was so much in fact that they filled more than two vacuum bags worth of fragments.

"When are the new windows coming?" Percy asked stopping to press a hand to her injured side.

"This afternoon." Brody had to hand it to the wounded agent she was a trooper. "I ordered a couple of new French doors too."

Pride was coming over in a little while to patch the bullet holes and spackle the walls. It would take more than just one man and putty knife to repair all of the damage but at least it was a start.

Everything had to be near perfect for when Chris came home Brody thought as Loretta appeared in the doorway.

"How may I help?"

Brody looked around the room, thinking it might be easier to have the insurance company just total out everything and start fresh. "Take your pick."

"I don't know how our boy will ever bounce back from this," Loretta sighed inwardly kicking herself for referring to a 32 year old man as a boy. She had first met Christopher LaSalle when he was a young vice cop, fresh out college and the academy. Eleven years had now past since she had first been sucked in by his southern charm and kind demeanor. She'd watched him grow from a reckless angry vice cop to a calm and very precise federal agent. If ever there was a man molded in the likeness of Dwayne Pride it was LaSalle. Loretta knew that Pride was grooming him to take over as King of city one day and up until last week, she had thought he was the perfect choice. Now she wasn't so sure.

What if the pain of losing everything started to eat him alive? In the first few days following Savannah's death, Loretta had watched him, bottle everything up inside so that he could focus on catching her killer. But in the moments when he thought no one was looking Loretta had seen it. He was completely broken and lost, teetering on the verge of self-destruction. It didn't help matters any that Messier, the rat, had played on Christopher's vulnerability to get him to seek vengeance against Baitfish. Thank God, Pride had been there to talk him down from making a life altering decision.

Messier had been right about one thing. A loss as great as this one would change a person. The question was how much would it change LaSalle?

"LaSalle's pretty tough," Percy commented earning a tight smile. The young and sassy ATF agent had yet to become part of the family but like the others, Loretta liked her.

"Being tough doesn't have anything to do with it," Loretta replied. "A loss as deep as this one gets into your soul and stays there. Some say it's a hurt that never goes away."

Sonja pursed her lips and gave a simple nod out of respect.

"Loretta's right," Brody said thinking of her own experience with her twin sister, Emily. Emily's death had changed her life profoundly making her responsible for the death of eight people.

Though she had stood right beside, LaSalle with her own weapon trained on Baitfish as her partner debated pulling the trigger there was a part of her that had wanted to step in between them or bust out her black belt. More than anyone her heart was bleeding for Chris. His pain had to be almost to the point where it was swallowing him whole. At least when Emily had died, Brody had a home to go back to. Chris didn't even have that. She supposed that he would have the support of his family back in Alabama, Cade especially. It was still hard to believe that both brother's had lost the women that they had loved in a similar violent manner. Talk about a wicked twist of fate.

But Chris didn't belong back in Alabama. He belonged here with his work.

 _His work_ , she sighed inwardly hating herself for the way she had behaved so indifferent towards her partner over the last several weeks. First, she had been skeptical over Cade's innocence and then when Savannah had died, she had chosen to keep her distance, keeping things solely on a professional level. What kind of partner does that?

Well, she was here now she reasoned letting out a long exhale as Pride entered through the side gate and picked up the table that Savannah had so expertly set right before she had been killed, the candles and her wine glass still sitting in the dirt.

Oh God the wine! Brody thought knowing that Chris was going to beat himself up over that one for a long time to come. The truth of the matter was his short stop to pick up wine wouldn't have saved Savannah. It would have only succeeded in getting him killed. In fact, Brody was half surprised that Baitfish hadn't stuck around to take a shot at Chris from the sniper's nest when he'd first come home and found Savannah laying dead by the window.

Respect. Brody sighed, quoting Baitfish. The man had killed Chris' girlfriend, garnering on somehow earning Pride's respect. Not, Laurel or Linda but LaSalle's girlfriend. How wrong was that? At least the bastard was dead and both LaSalle and Pride were alive.

Brody was thankful for that. It was a selfish thought, this she knew. But the truth was she genuinely liked LaSalle and the small part she played in his world. Pride's too. Together she and Pride would take care of LaSalle and be there for him every step of the way. There would be no indifference or skepticism on her part, just true and honest empathy and friendship.

They were partners and it was time that she had her partner's back.

* * *

Brody was waiting on the front steps of the porch with a six pack when she spotted LaSalle's black Ford F-150 pull up to the curb.

LaSalle's eyes squinted as he stepped out of the vehicle and grabbed his duffle bag. "Brody?" Chris started across the street and met her at the bottom of the steps. "What are ya doin' here?" He half expected to see Pride but not Brody. She preferred to keep their partnership at arms, length.

"I thought maybe we could talk." she said holding up the six-pack.

Chris looked at her before digging out his house key from his pocket. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't feel much like talkin' "He just wanted to grab a fresh set of clothes and get back out as soon as he could. Not that he knew where he was going exactly, he just knew he couldn't stay here.

"Then maybe you could just listen." Brody returned earning his attention.

Chris looked at her curiously, watching her intently as her courage began to flee. "I'm listenin.'"

"I'd like to tell you about my sister, Emily," she said slowly as she followed him into the house.

Chris had to mentally will himself from doing an eye roll. Months had past since Pride had shared with him that Brody had a twin sister who had been killed by a drunk driver. Now, she wanted to open up and share? He supposed it made sense given his situation. But he would have never thought that she would finally want to open up and bond over tragedy. He already had Cade for that.

Brody watched him carefully as he noticed the new windows and the doors. He was still sporting the same expression he had the day after Savannah had died: heartbroken and lost.

"Did you do this?" he asked willing the horror of that fateful night to the back of his mind.

"With a little help from Pride, Loretta and Sonja." For a moment, Brody thought she almost saw him smile but then it faded. She had to admit, she missed that signature grin of his.

Chris could only nod. The thought of staying here was incomprehensible. The pain was still unbearable. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the image of Savannah, dead and bleeding out in front of the window. The empty look in her eyes would haunt him for a long time to come, reminding him that he hadn't been fast enough and that he had made the unforgiveable decision by stopping for wine.

"You know," Brody started, as his expression turned distant. "If you need a place to stay, I've got a pretty comfy couch."

"I'll be okay," Chris swallowed pushing the massive monster of pain back down into his chest. He was doing his best to try and remain stoic in front of the woman who had kept him at arms length for the last couple of weeks.

Brody could see that he was wavering as she set the six pack on table and reached for his hand, giving it a slight squeeze before turning away and heading for the door.

Chris placed his hands on his hips, looking heavenward. He didn't want her to leave. "So, about your sister."

Brody closed her eyes for a moment, a slight smile spreading across her face. They were finally going to bond as partners. Sharing her story about Emily wasn't much but at least it was a start.

 **A/N: I tried to keep this true to what the show might do. They had Percy show LaSalle more compassion for his lose, than Brody. Gotta wonder where they might go with those two eventually as the chemistry between LaSalle/Percy is definitely there, whether it's the writing or natural between the actors. But that aside they could have thrown in an "I'm sorry" from Brody in there someplace.**


End file.
